The history of Texaco's corporate information technology function: A general systems theoretical interpretation
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Porra, J; Hirschheim, R; Parks, MS
署名单位：
University of Houston System; University of Houston; Louisiana State University System; Louisiana State University
刊物名称：
MIS QUARTERLY
ISSN/ISSBN：
0276-7783
发表日期：
2005
页码：
721-746
关键词：
摘要：
We attempt to use general systems theory (GST) to understand why the resources of Texaco's corporate information technology function consistently did not match its task during its 40-year lifetime. Our interpretation uses mechanistic, organic, and colonial systems metaphors, each with three components. The first is an analysis of a management action system made up of organizational indicators such as Texaco's revenues, profits, employee numbers, IT budgets, and IT personnel numbers. The second is a narrative of performance versus resource needs, which shows a gap between the resources and expanding responsibilities of Texaco's IT function. The third is a management perception system, which offers reasons why top management continually misinterpreted IT's performance as inferior. Our results show that the mechanistic, organic, and colonial interpretations converge. In addition, our GST-based interpretations show how top management might have remedied the situation.